Return to Sentience
by iggychan89
Summary: Stuck in suspended animation for millenia, Arceus was finally awoken by the last of his Chosens, though this Chosen has no idea of what he is. Learning of an inevitable war on evil, it is a race against the clock to gather all of Arceus' plates before time runs out. (It's going to be a lot better than it sounds.)


**A/N:** I've had this idea for a fic floating around my head for a few days now (among many other ideas that just float across my head day in and day out) and I got really psyched to write this one. For all you fans of The Dragon Tamer, don't worry, I haven't abandoned it for this story, I just need a break from it for a bit.

Anyway, this is gonna be an Arceus and Ash fic like you have never read before. It's going to have a miniscule amount of Inuyasha influence (let's see if you can spot it, after all, it should be a bit obvious), a rather big influence from the Okami game (an amazing game, I suggest playing it), as well as some religious elements (creation is a main factor with this). By religious, I mean that Arceus is an actual god in this story. There won't be any of that Hall of Origin meetings with all the legendary Pokemon crap, I get so sick of reading stories with those things. The Hall of Origin in this story is just the place where Arceus was "born", it is beyond the realm of mortals and it is impossible to get to. It is essentially the "heaven" of the Pokemon world. Like I said, heavily influenced by religion. I myself am not religious by any means, but it makes for a good story this way. Please don't be offended by any of this, it is just a story I made up after all and none of it is real. There is a scientific element as well, but it doesn't play much of a role except in the prologue.

This chapter is just an explanation of the origin of Arceus and the creation of the world. It plays a part in understanding the main plot, so it is important to put this here. It might be a bit short, but it is just a prologue, so I am not worried. Oh and be sure to read the ending author's notes please.

**Prologue: The Legend of Arceus**

There are many stories of how the world came to be with all its living plants and creatures. Some are just sheer fairy tales that ranged anywhere from Pokemon arriving from other planets in spaceships that brought the plants to the lifeless Earth to colonize a new home, leaving behind their advanced ways of life for the simple existence of living like animals, to odd stories of how the world just "popped" into existence with all its vibrant colors and varieties of life. Many ventured into the scientific realm of how the planet formed and how Pokemon came into existence. The problem is that all of these stories excluded how they, the human beings, came to be on Earth. In a world where humans co-exist with beings that have the power to level entire cities, no one but The Chosen know the exact tale of how life on Earth sprouted from the barren rock that it once was, and they were sworn to secrecy until the time was right.

The Chosen are a tiny group of people that Arceus entrusted and bestowed upon them the knowledge of his creations to in an act of extreme trust. They, in return, pledged their complete loyalty and faith to the mighty deity for such a precious gift. Arceus had told them to keep his existence a secret from the other human beings and to only pass on the knowledge to their young. There would be a time in the far future when they could finally reveal who he was to the rest of mankind, when humans and Pokemon alike would need a savior to look up to when times got dark, and to save them. He spoke of a lone Chosen with the purest of heart and soul that would help to enhance his powers to drive the evil away so that peace would reign on his beautiful Earth for centuries after. Many of his creations would die in the battle, he told them, but they would all be noble sacrifices and their souls would be able to rest in peace for all eternity for it. Many of The Chosen were driven to tears at that and even more were heartbroken when Arceus bid them farewell and left; his reserve powers finally spent from a recent battle and creation.

So, how did this mighty deity come into being to create the world of Pokemon today? It all started four and a half billion years ago, when the universe was still in its infancy. A huge cataclysmic collision of epic proportions between celestial bodies in the early solar system caused a massive explosion. From that explosion emerged a radioactive cell nucleus that hung around in the black of space, slowly evolving over millions of years into the form of Arceus that is known to The Chosens today.

When Arceus finally took on his final form, he opened his eyes for the first time and noticed he was floating in a black void surrounded by large, flying, and icy rocks. He unfolded himself from the fetal position he had been in and started testing out this power he felt coursing through his immortal body. He used a mind power to form himself various elemental plates out of small passing comets that would constantly float around him so that he could call upon them at any time if he would ever be in need of them. He had created only five that would serve him for a while until he decided upon more in the future: Mind, Earth, Flame, Splash, and Sky.

When the great deity looked about him, he decided he needed a home. Arceus attached the Mind plate to himself and felt his psychic powers enhance exponentially. He gathered all the space rock together with his mind and started building the core of the planet he was about to create. For two hundred million years he worked, and his patience in building finally paid off. In front of him stood a beautiful blue planet covered in white clouds and a large landmass in the center. Arceus, however, noticed his creation was out of control with violent storm systems, erratic weather patterns, and the entire planet was spinning so fast it nearly gave him a headache looking at it. So, using his remaining energy, he formed a decent sized, barren and grey satellite out of passing asteroids and made his creation capture it within its gravity. The effects were slow going, but Arceus noticed that his planet was slowing down. The only problem was that the weather and climate were still out of control. He gave a flick of his head and the planet tilted a bit on its axis, and the erratic weather stopped immediately. Satisfied, the deity returned to the Hall of Origin, a realm he created for himself to rest in and recover his strength.

He remained there for another two hundred million years, resting and restoring his powers.

When Arceus had next emerged, it was to the sight of a calm and slow rotating planet. It had been seven hundred million years, but his creation was nearly finished. He floated down to the surface of the planet and landed on the barren soil. Life, he decided, was next, but to accomplish such a difficult task, he was going to need more plates. Once more, he attached the Mind plate and got to work on forming a complete set.

Arceus had a total of sixteen plates when he was done, all ready to be used to create a world filled with life. He decided to start with less complex life, something to feed his future creatures. He attached the Meadow plate to himself, reared up like a startled horse, and slammed back down. Plants of all shapes, sizes, and species erupted from beneath Arceus' feet and quickly spread to cover the entire landmass and under the ocean waters in record time. The deity folded his forelegs in front of him, and laid down in the soft grass he had just made for a few minutes, and just relished in the fact that his home would be finished soon and he would no longer be alone.

Standing back up, he called upon the power of all sixteen plates for this next bit. He decided to start small with living organisms for the moment, and started glowing a bright white and the light spread out for miles around him. When it finally dimmed, no evidence of an organism could be seen. Not without a microscope at least.

Arceus repeated the process, but with far more complex forms of life. These were creatures that were created from his own flesh and blood; his own DNA. They were his pride and joy and he would do everything he could within his power to protect them.

He had decided to create herbivores only. At first anyway. After a few hundred years of watching his creations grow in numbers and quickly spread to cover the entire planet in record time, Arceus noticed they were quickly depleting their food sources and would run out and starve to death if he didn't come up with a solution. When an answer came to him, it was with a heavy heart that he knew was going to have to create creatures to take out a lot of his peaceful herbivores, but he would treasure these carnivores in the same way he did the herbivores. They would be of his blood as well after all and they would only be doing as their instincts dictated them to do. He decided to do something special for his creations in return in lieu of the situation. For each and every single one, he gifted them powers and abilities, each unique depending upon the species. This way, they would all have a way to protect themselves.

Nature needed balanced he realised, and took the lesson to heart.

It was some years later as he was looking down upon his masterpiece, that Arceus realised that he had yet to name his planet. It took him several weeks, but one day a name just popped into his head. It was such a simple yet beautiful name.

Earth.

As the eons passed by, Arceus continued watching his work of art. He let nature take over, and thus many species came and went as they continued to evolve; in the great race of life. The landmass started tearing apart over the millions of years, creating isolated islands and smaller landmasses. Many of the same species got isolated and started evolving differently from their mainland cousins. Arceus didn't know what to think about this development, but he let it be. He would not interfere with nature as it took its course.

One day, the deity decided to create protectors for his creations. He created a large variety of them, from the smallest to ones even larger than himself. Arceus simply dubbed them the "Guardians". He gifted them more power than his first creations, to make sure no harm ever came to any of them.

While the other creatures accepted them at first, it wasn't long before war broke out between the creatures and their Guardians. At first, the Guardians refused to fight them, but after a while they got overwhelmed and fought back mercilessly. Earth became showered in a blood bath.

Arceus had done his best to stop them, but their combined power overwhelmed him and he had to retreat to the farthest corners of his world. It was there that he decided to create a new type of creature, one with sentience and a free will with no need for powers and abilities. One with the desire to capture and tame his previous creations; to do what he couldn't. Creatures with intelligence and innovation. He may have been a god, but he was only one being among billions and he couldn't do this alone.

He summoned the last remnants of his power, and in a burst of white light and sixteen streaks of multiple colors exploding out and vanishing from sight, his newest and final creations stood before him. As a last ditch effort to preserve who he was and his legacy, he chose a small group of these new beings and imparted his knowledge on to them. He called his new followers "The Chosen". With his final warnings and a vision of the far future imparted to them, he vanished from sight altogether, leaving behind a saddened group of Chosens.

Far away in a cave, Arceus laid down and closed his eyes, ready to go into a suspended animation state for millenia to come.

As he closed his eyes, he vaguely noticed that he no longer had his plates with him, but before he could worry about it, darkness consumed him.

**End of Prologue**

**A/N: **Eh? Whatchu think so far? I know prologues are boring and short as hell, but this was necessary for the plot set up. As for the title, I am using "sentience" as in power, not a conscious. I know it doesn't mean power in a dictionary standard, but it is word play if you will.

Now, for your important task. I have thought of two ways for this story to go: one where Ash finds Arceus before his journey in Kanto, or one where he finds Arceus in Sinnoh. Your job is to leave a review with your vote. I love knowing what my readers prefer, so do please vote for one. You have until this Saturday to decide, and after that, it won't count. If I see one scenario is winning in a landslide, I will post an author's note and close the voting.

So, I hope you like how I integrated science into a religious scenario. Do remember that millions of years may seem a lot, but in space and in the Hall of Origin, a million years may seem like one blink of an eye to Arceus. It took an enormous amount of power for him to create the Earth, and he had to do it in small increments, and even that took a lot of power.


End file.
